Why Hausa is a Fascinating Language.

Hausaphone northern Nigerians on social media celebrate “Ranar Hausa” (Hausa Day) every August 26. In honor of the celebration, I share with the reader a reworked version of a column I wrote on September 4, 2016 in the aftermath of the controversy stoked by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s alleged description of Hausa as a “unique” language.

He actually never said that. Nevertheless, even if he didn’t say Hausa was unique, it sure is a fascinating language for these five reasons—and more.

1. Hausa is by far Nigeria’s, nay West Africa’s, most widely spoken language. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it is spoken by up to 50 million people both as a native language and as a non-native language. This means it is outrivaled only by Swahili as the most widely spoken language in Africa.

2. Hausa is also emerging as Nigeria’s only non-ethnic language, by which…